The first time my wife cooked for me (first 2 times we went out, and I hate going out) was on our 3rd date, it was also a third day in the row we got together. After I told her on the second date that it is time she starts cooking or I am not coming anymore. She made this wonderful baked chicken and mashed potato. After that diner I did not go home, we have been together since; it’s about 17 + years now. Have to say I’ve been cooking most of those years, especially since she got pregnant with our first son (he is 12 now) and would get violently ill just walking thru the kitchen. I don’t mind, as the matter of fact I love it.

My boyfriend and I went out for coffee on our first date. That doesn't really count though. The first meal I cooked for him was chicken marsala, wild rice, salad, and strawberry glazed cheesecake for dessert. I think the first thing he ever made me was linguini with clam sauce and clams oreganata. Both meals were sooo yummy :)

once on a second date, this guy came over to my house with home made oatmeal cookies (my favorite dessert, we must have talked about it over dinner or something). well he later broke my heart... fast forward about 2 years to my current dbf. On my birthday, after taking me to dinner, he had a couple boxes of presents. So I unwrap one and it's in this weird looking shipping box, I open it up and it's home made oatmeal cookies. I guess I must make it perfectly clear that's what I like Luckily, this time it didn't end with a broken heart, fast forward another 4 years and we're still together.

After the oatmeal cookies, I just had to do something special for his birthday which is about a week after mine. I started with some cold smoked salmon over lightly buttered ciabatta, followed by cream of mushroom soup. Next was a mixed green salad with walnuts, pears and gorgonzola. For the main dish, pepper encrusted pan seared tuna, with asparagus and holladaise sauce. Dessert was a raspberry parfait.

We both love to cook (and eat) and often a night at home consists of trying out a new recipe. We also do a cookie day once a year around the holidays where we bake up a bunch of cookies, bars, candies and then give them as gifts to our family and friends.

As much as I love to cook, if a man DEMANDED that I cook for him, it wouldn't happen. I can remember my now-husband of almost 25 years saying, "Oh, you must be one of those women libbers." I just laughed and replied, "I'm a veteran, and have supported myself for over a decade. Call it whatever you will." We cooked for each other then, and do now. I simply cannot imagine someone telling me that I had to pass a cooking test before he'd marry me. I would just walk out of the room.

One of our favorite early meals was when my now husband picked me up and we went to Skyline drive during the fall. It was cheese, salami, good bread, and artichoke hearts. A bottle of champagne. We rolled in the leaves, enjoyed the colors, nibbled. No one cooked, it was just lovely.

I, guess, you're talking about me. Well, it had nothing to do with any kind of test. Simply I like to be fed, and not in the restaurant. Call me a womanizer, an old school, or whatever else you want, but that is the way it should be. The fact that I cook for family is not the way it should be. What is that old saying "the way to a man's hart is thru his stomach" It is 100% true, and have been proven by many shrinks and other doctors. We man think different.

Strangely enough, neither my SO nor I can remember the first meal I prepared for us. I think we were so dazzled by each others' presence that all else paled by comparison. I prefer that explanation to 'my cooking is forgettable.'.

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan